


Twin Tailed Adventures

by Derog6



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Post-Canon, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:08:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26098375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Derog6/pseuds/Derog6
Summary: Male Au Ra WoL Kiyosuke and Newly christened Scion G'raha Tia go on adventures with each other fulfilling a promise and revealing hidden feelings.
Relationships: G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light, Original character/Arenvald Lentinus
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Twin Tailed Adventures

Kiyosuke Candilyte was sitting at a table surrounded by all of his friends and fellow Scions. He was known to many as the Warrior of Light, and in another world as the Warrior of Darkness. While he was proud of these titles and cherished their meanings he was truly just an adventurer at heart. 

He looked around the table at the smiling and laughing faces and recalled his first meeting with all of them, Thancred especially as he was the first he ran into. The Hyur male was regaling some of the other scions of one of their adventures on Norvrandt, right next to him was Y'shtola, a Miqo’te female who was quietly sipping on some tea as her pale gray eyes focused on seemingly nothing. Just next to her was Urianger, an Elezen male who was examining tarot cards and not really focusing on the conversation at hand.

To his right were the dynamic Elezen twins, Alisaie and Alphinaud who looked almost identical if it weren’t for their completely opposite personalities and outfits. He chuckled to himself as he recalled some of their encounters and he shook his head grinning as Alisaie was energetically chiming into the story. To their right was Tataru who was beaming as she listened to the story, this Lalafell woman had grown so much since Kiyosuke had met her, he was really quite proud of how far she’d come. 

And then finally but perhaps most importantly was G’raha Tia, a Miqo’te male and recent addition to the Scions but someone that Kiyosuke cherished perhaps a tad more than the others. He was sitting directly next to him, his ears moving in subtle ways as Thancred talked, his fluffy tail swishing this way and that way as he got excited in certain parts and his piercing ruby red eyes focused, unmoving from the Hyur across the table. 

As for Kiyosuke himself, well he sometimes felt awkward being as tall as he was, towering over everyone but no one seemed to mind at this point. He was an Au Ra, complete with horns, bright golden eyes, tail and scales. Often many would think he was angry from his neutral expression but that’s just how his face was, it had scared away a few romantic prospects in his life. He sighed to himself recalling the first person to ever call him attractive. Haurchefant, his chest tightened as he remembered the first time they had kissed, he had thought he was in love and to watch him die for his sake was one of the most painful memories he had. It was after his death that Kiyosuke vowed to never lose someone dear to him again.

Kiyosuke sat at the table for a while going through about three cups of tea that Tataru was more than happy to make for him. He was looking forward to some rest after all of his exertions the past months. It felt like he was constantly bouncing from one issue to the next with little time in between. So with things being calm at the moment he was planning on taking some time to do some old fashioned adventuring, something which he sorely missed amid all the recent chaos. He yawned and stretched a bit before standing up to leave which caught everyone’s attention and all eyes shifted to him. “Oh don’t let me interrupt, I’m just tired and I’m going to go home and sleep.” He smiled at everyone but felt a little sheepish as he noticed all of them looking at him with admiration and thanks in their eyes. It was true he had saved their lives but he did what anyone else would have done for friends. The only difference was G’raha, who was looking at him a little more unusually than the others, there was admiration for sure, but something else buried underneath. Kiyosuke smiled at them all and nodded his head before turning on his heel and walking out. 

“You’ll come get us if anything exciting happens right?” Alisaie called out to him. Kiyosuke turned chuckling. “Something exciting without you guys? I wouldn’t dream of it.” She grinned back at him with a twinkle in her eye as Kiyosuke left. As soon as he stepped outside he teleported away to his home, well shared home anyway. He lived with his brother who was often away doing random things as he saw fit, he stepped into the house and after a relaxing bath went to sleep. 

G’raha Tia watched as Kiyosuke left, he had wanted to call out to him to go with him even. But he was going home to sleep and there was no point in him going home with him. The mere thought of that caused a slight redness to come to G’raha’s face. He turned back to the table and saw Y’shtola watching him with a small grin gracing her lips. He quickly looked away and did his best to get involved in Thrancred’s story again.

Kiyosuke woke up the next day and after getting geared up, having his coffee with some cake he decided to pull out his old journal. It was filled with pages and pages of stories and notes he had made about his various adventures and exploits. He always made sure to thank anyone who had helped him along the way though, never taking full credit himself. He found the last page he had marked in and in the scribbles and lines of text was a message about a cave system that when people tried to explore they never came out again. He closed his journal after memorizing the location and stepped out of the house to a bright sunny day. He bathed in the sunlight for a moment before he teleported to Mor Dhona. 

Kiyosuke walked into the Scion headquarters with several people nodding their heads to him as he walked in. His eyes flitted from face to face until he found the one he was looking for. “G’raha.” The miqo'te turned from the bar with a cup of tea in his hand to face Kiyosuke, a questioning look on his face. “Yes?” Kiyosuke smiled. “I once promised to take you with me on an adventure, well I have one and was wondering if you’d like to go with me.” G’rahas eyes widened like a kid on Starlight morning and a big smile spread across his face. “I’d love to!” He quickly set down his tea and picked up his staff. “When and where are we going?” Kiyosuke chuckled. “Well I’d hoped for us to leave now and we’re heading to Gyr Abania. There’s a cave in a ravine that no one has returned alive from.” G’raha nodded his face full of excitement. “Lead the way my friend.”

Kiyosuke and G’raha made to leave only to be cut off by a pouty-faced Alisaie. “You ask him but are leaving us in the dust? I see how it is.” She crossed her arms and glared at Kiyosuke who flinched back looking surprised. “I mean, it’s just a cave.” Alisaie’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah? But it's obviously one exciting enough for you to go check out, which means I want in too.” Kiyosuke and G’raha looked at each other but before they got a chance to reply Y’shtola intervened. “Alisaie, let them be. I’m sure if our dear friend felt it was worth our time he would have asked. Right?” She gave a subtle wink to Kiyosuke before ushering Alisaie off who kept trying to protest but was silenced by Y’shtola every time. Kiyosuke sighed and motioned for G’raha to follow him, once they were outside he grabbed G’raha’s hand and they teleported, appearing on the Ala Mhigan side of Baelsar's wall. “Welcome to Gyr Abania, I fought many Imperials here.” G’raha looked around marveling at the scenery; he then looked at Kiyosuke tears in his eyes. “I finally get to fulfill a dream, I get to adventure with you.” Kiyosuke blushed slightly. “It's...it's not all glamorous, plenty of mundane things too. Can’t tell you how many times I had to talk to people who were literally feet apart.” G’raha started laughing at this, his ears twitching. Kiyosuke was suddenly filled with the urge to touch the ears but resisted. He pointed out of the encampment towards the sound of rushing water. “This way.” 

They walked for about 15 minutes, most of the local wildlife ignoring them as they talked about Kiyosuke’s past adventures through this area. “Woah..really a whole battalion and an experimental weapon?” Kiyosuke nodded, recalling rather fondly the expressions of the Imperials after he left it a scrap heap. “Not the first time I’ve routed them, and probably not the last.” G’raha nodded as they walked on towards the ravine. Kiyosuke turned to G’raha to say something but got lost in the moment as the sunlight had hit him at the perfect angle to cause his hair to almost shine. “Woah.”

G’raha looked over at Kiyosuke to find him staring at him. “What? What is it? Do I have something on me?” He looked around himself to see if he could find anything but nothing was out of the ordinary. “Kiyosuke are you alright?” 

Kiyosuke shook his head and chuckled. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about that, I got caught up in...something.” He cleared his throat and started walking towards the ravine again which was nearby. G’raha blinked and tilted his head. “O...kay?” He shrugged to himself and quickly caught up with the Au Ra. “So how are we getting down this thing?”

Kiyosuke looked at G’raha for a moment like the answer was obvious but then he chuckled. “Right, you can’t fall from ridiculous heights without dying.” He pulled a whistle from one of his pockets and blew on it. As they waited for whatever it was that was coming G’raha looked at Kiyosuke like he was crazy. “I’m sorry what?” Kiyosuke looked at him and was about to say something when the cry from a large bird was heard. Descending from the sky was a firebird with its bright golden glow acting as an almost second sun from how high up it was. “There you are.” Kiyosuke said as it landed next to him bowing its head. “G’raha, meet Armeora she’s a firebird and has carried me many times throughout my adventures.”

G’raha was in awe of the creature before him, he had heard legends of course about firebirds and phoenix’s but he had never laid eyes on one. “May...may I touch her?” Kiyosuke smiled and nodded. He reached out and stroked some of the wing feathers, they were strong yet soft. “So beautiful.” Kiyosuke grinned. “Glad you think so, you’re gonna ride her down the ravine.” G’raha recoiled and looked shocked. “I’M WHAT?!?” He tried to protest but a moment later found himself sitting on Armeora. He felt nervous as Kiyosuke climbed on behind him, and maybe something else as his ass was now against Kiyosuke’s crotch. But he didn’t have much time to think about it as they quickly launched and dived into the ravine. “AHHHHHH!!” G’raha screamed halfway down as they rocketed towards the bottom. After he managed to calm himself, he marveled at the rock formations around them, Armeora’s golden glow illuminating the surrounding area. 

“There it is!” Kiyosuke pointed to an opening on the side of the ravine which clearly led down into a cave system. He landed them just outside of it and sent Armeora away after they climbed off. There was a foul stench coming from the cave and a foreboding aura. “Ready G’raha? I’m not sure what we’ll find down here.” G’raha raised his staff which began to let off light. “I’ve been waiting for this chance for a long time, of course I’m ready.” Together the pair entered the mouth of the cave setting themselves on a new whirlwind adventure that would bring them to places they could never imagine. 

*************************************************************************

Kiyosuke and G’raha had been walking for several minutes at this point as they descended deeper and deeper into the cavern. The only light coming from G’raha’s staff. “That’s quite handy, normally I have to get creative to make light.” G’raha grinned showing his teeth. “With me at your side you need never fear dark places again.” Kiyosuke was glad the light blanched out most colors otherwise G’raha would see how red his face was. “Right, th...thanks.” He kept walking forward without paying attention, his mind now in other places. “Kiyosuke!” He was suddenly grabbed and yanked back from a ledge he hadn’t noticed. “Thanks, I’m sorry I was...distracted.” G’raha breathed a sigh of relief. “Now is not the time my friend.” Kiyosuke nodded sheepishly as he stood back up and examined the new situation. “Well, this is interesting.” The narrow passage they had been walking through had opened up into a huge area, big enough to fit a city inside. G’raha made his staff brighter and the area illuminated more revealing sparkling facets on the other side of the chasm. “What do you suppose those are? They’re twinkling almost like stars.” Kiyosuke shrugged. “Beats me, Geology isn’t my thing.”

G’raha held his staff aloft and began looking around for another path but one wasn’t immediately evident. “Any ideas Kiyosuke? I can’t imagine every group that’s come here simply falling off this ledge.” Kiyosuke was looking at the open chasm as he knelt down and looked around. He was trying to gauge the depth and he put his hand out but the moment it was supposed to dip past the ledge it hit something solid which then illuminated and revealed a floating square hanging in the air. It was big enough for one person to stand on and the light it emitted quickly faded. “Well now, you don’t see that everyday.” G’raha had seen the whole thing and now looked deep in thought. “Floating steps, there’s powerful magic at work here obviously. But to what end?” Kiyosuke stood up and grinned. “Only one way to find out.” He put a foot out and stepped on the space where the step should be and once it again shone brightly, he tentatively put some weight on it and determining it was solid, moved onto it. That was when the trouble began, the square began shrinking from each of the corners closing in to the middle. With quick thinking Kiyosuke felt out with a foot in the open air and upon finding another square he hopped to it. The first square he had been one regained its full size and dimmed. “Follow me G’raha!” 

G’raha had been watching this and wondered how his friend had ever lived this long considering the reckless abandon at which he went into things. And now he found himself caught up in it as he was hopping from magical step to magical step as Kiyosuke found them. They were slowly making their way across the chasm and things seemed to be going okay until they hit a small snag. “Uhh, I can’t find the next one.” Kiyosuke was feeling everywhere but there was no nearby square. The one he was on was getting increasingly smaller. G’raha began to panic as his too was getting smaller. Then he saw something that stopped his heart, Kiyosuke leapt from his almost gone square out into the open air. G’raha’s eye widened and he readied a recall spell to bring him and Kiyosuke back to the last aetheryte they were both at but before he casted it a massive platform lit up. Kiyosuke had landed on a big floating platform that was about three yalms from the last step. Taking this queue he quickly moved to the last step and leapt to the platform himself. 

As soon as he landed on the platform the entire cavern lit up and a magical portal opened up. G’raha looked around in awe as the facets they saw earlier were projecting the magic. “Fascinating, some kind of aether filled crystals.” Kiyosuke was looking at the portal with curiosity. “Any idea where this might lead?” G’raha looked at Kiyosuke with a ‘really?’ look and shook his head. “No idea.” Kiyosuke nodded and upon touching the portal was sucked into it. “Kiyosuke!” G’raha ran into the portal and was pulled into a swirling vortex that spat him out next to Kiyosuke. “Don’t go just touching a portal! That’s foolish!” Kiyosuke chuckled. “Well how else are we supposed to have an adventure? We have to see where it goes.” G’raha sighed and shook his head. He was about to speak more when a booming voice was heard. “Trial one, complete!” Kiyosuke was looking around in awe. “I recognize this style of architecture. The ancients.” 

G’raha looked around and noticed they were in some sort of building. In front of them was a long hall that turned left much farther down. “The ancients? Like the ascians?” Kiyosuke nodded as he looked around. “The false city of Amaurot looked like this, I wondered if we had parts of it here on the source.” He touched the walls and closed his eyes. “I made a promise, to never forget.” G’raha looked at Kiyosuke with almost sadness in his eyes. He put his hand on Kiyosuke’s back. “And we won’t, Emet Selch and his people…” He paused for a second or two. “Our people and history should not be forgotten.” Kiyosuke nodded and quietly thanked G’raha. “Well, shall we press onward then?” 

Kiyosuke and G’raha proceeded through the ruins marveling at the pristine state of the buildings. “They certainly built things to last.” Kiyosuke nodded as they turned a corner to come face to face with some kind of plant beast. “HI!” Kiyosuke drew his sword and launched himself at the beast with G’raha bringing up the rear using a mix of healing and attack magic.

“I swear...you should be the warrior of recklessness.” G’raha was using some bandages he had brought to finish dealing with some wounds Kiyosuke had received from them clearing the second trial. Which was a trial of combat as it turned out and the amount of enemies was staggering. Kiyosuke grinned at G’raha as he finished the last bandage, a slight blush creeping on his cheeks. “Magic can only heal so much, so try not to reopen those wounds.” Kiyosuke nodded and stood up. “Thanks.” He instinctively reached out and stroked G’raha’s cheek for a few seconds before catching himself. “SORRY” He quickly withdrew his hand and robotically walked away. G’raha’s heart was pounding in his chest and he still felt the lingering sensation of Kiyosuke’s hand on his. He wanted more of it, craved the touch. He shook his head and caught up but now there was an awkward silence between them. “S..so...what do you think the next trial will be?” 

Kiyosuke visibly relaxed and shrugged. “No idea, but we had a leap of faith test, a combat test, maybe a wit test?” G’raha nodded at the logic behind the statement. “Sounds reasonable, I wonder what it's all for though.” They came to a dead end with a wall that had a crystal in it. It lit up as they reached it and spoke. “Three times shall you have to pass my test, thrice shall you prove your minds worth and move towards larger enlightenment.” “Yep..called it...a test of wits.” Kiyosuke shook his head holding the bridge of his nose. “Why are things always seemingly in threes?” G’raha laughed at this and the exasperated expression on Kiyosuke’s face. “Well whatever the reason is, we have to answer three questions to pass.” Kiyosuke nodded and stood at the ready. The crystal spoke again. “I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body but come alive with wind. What am I?” Kiyosuke blinked several times. Before groaning. “Aww man, and here I was hoping it’d be an easy one.” G’raha had his eyes closed while deep in thought, his mouth moving as he silently recited the riddle. “Hmm, no eyes or ears or body, but comes alive with the wind.” He sat down by the wall and put a hand on his chin thinking. Kiyosuke leaned against the wall staring at the floor as his mind whirred. “I GOT IT!” Kiyosuke jumped a little as G’raha had yelled out after several minutes. “An echo.” The crystal blipped. “Correct, next question.” 

The Crystal displayed a series of letters. SCD, TEF, UGH, ___, WKL. “What sequence of letters belongs in the gap?” Kiyosuke stared at it for several moments before throwing his arms up in the air. “GAH! Give me something to swing at, I’m not good for this type of stuff.” G’raha chuckled. “We all have our strengths eh?” Kiyosuke crossed his arms and pouted slightly. “I’m known for my strength of arm not my strength of wit.” G’raha smiled. “You’re also known for your kindness, willingness to help others and your absolute selflessness.” As he said this Kiyosuke blushed and turned to look at the wall. “You’re embarrassing me.” Chuckling again, G'raha turned to the Crystal. “VIJ is the answer.” It blipped twice. “Correct. Final question. You’ll have 60 seconds to answer correctly.” Both G’raha and Kiyosuke looked at each other in shock but then looked determined, nodding to each other they looked at the glowing crystal. “What is the name of the 14th seat of the congregation and perhaps its most enigmatic member?” Kiyosuke smiled as he took out a small crystal from a pouch. “Azem.” The crystal blipped three times. “Correct, all questions complete. Trial 3 cleared. Your final trial awaits you.” The dead end wall opened up and revealed what looked to be an arena. “Oh good, more combat.” Kiyosuke looked pumped as they walked in. The moment they both stepped in the arena, however, a force separated them putting them at opposite ends. A loud voice boomed in the room. “Only one may pass on, you will now decide through confrontation who is more worthy.” Kiyosuke and G’raha looked at each other horrified at the turn of events.

“I can’t fight you, we’re supposed to be in this together!” Kiyosuke was looking panicked now. G’raha steeled himself and tapped his staff on the ground. “I’m ready Kiyosuke, knock me out and I’m sure it’ll let you move on.” “What? NO! I can’t hurt you!” “It's the only way, you heard it!” Kiyosuke shook his head. And dropped his sword. “I refuse!” G’raha sighed. “We didn’t come all this way for nothing, one of us has to move on.” “Fine, then you knock me out and move on.” G’raha froze. Hurt someone he cared about, hurt the one who had saved his life more than once now. ‘UNTHINKABLE!’ “I will do no such thing!” Kiyosuke crossed his arms. “We’re at an impasse then.”

Red eyes stared into golden ones for several moments as they contemplated what to do, neither would harm the other that much was certain. Suddenly G’raha’s ears twitched up. “Wait, it said confrontation, which isn't necessarily combat. That means that we just have to confront something and it’ll let us pass...in theory.” Kiyosuke raised an eyebrow. “And what do you suppose we’re supposed to confront?” G’raha’s ears went down a little. “I...I’m not sure to be honest. A fear perhaps?” He looked up to Kiyosuke and his eyes widened a little at the expression on the man's face. “A fear huh? I suppose people might think I’m fearless being both the Warrior of Light and Darkness. But I can definitely say that’s not true.” Kiyosuke looked at G’raha and managed a small smile. “I have plenty of them, though one is stronger than all the rest.” He said this quietly, just barely audible even to G’raha’s Miqo’te ears. “I’m afraid some day I won’t be strong enough to protect those I care about...and to keep safe the one I love.” 

G’raha’s heart leapt into his throat, at this final bit Kiyosuke was staring directly at him, a smoldering intensity in the golden depths of his eyes. He felt his face flush and his body suddenly felt very warm, perhaps he was just imagining things but he could’ve sworn Kiyosuke was talking TO him when he said this. His breathing got faster, his tail twitched about very rapidly and his head was swimming from the implication that Kiyosuke was in love with him. ‘WAIT! NO! You don’t know that for sure!’ G’raha shook his head and cleared his throat, managing to get most of his body back under control. “Th..tha…” He cleared his throat again. “That’s a very understandable fear my friend.” At “my friend”, he saw a twinge of pain flicker across Kiyosuke’s face. ‘Oh...oh no.’

Kiyosuke nodded. “That it is.” His heart sank, he had confessed and gotten called a friend. He hurt a bit on the inside but did his best to not show it. “So...uh….your turn.” He got his expression back to normal and looked expectantly at G’raha. “Ah...yes...my fear.” G’raha’s ears fell almost flat on his head and his tail sank to hit the floor. “I’m afraid that I won’t ever be good enough for the Scions, and especially to the one I care very deeply about. This person feels so far ahead of me that I’m afraid of never being able to catch up.” Suddenly his ears and tail shot up. “But I’m not one to just sit around and mope! I will do my best to prove myself to the Scions and to the one who has claimed my heart!” G’raha was red in the face again as he stared at Kiyosuke. ‘Please understand I’m talking about you!’ Kiyosuke smiled a bit. ‘Ah, that’s why...he’s in love with someone else.’ “Well I can’t speak for anyone other than myself, but you’re more than good enough G’raha. I wouldn’t have asked you to come with me if I didn’t think so.” 

G’raha’s chest swelled and he felt as if he were floating, to get such praise from Kiyosuke, the very hero he’s looked up to for so long, and the man he longs to be with...it sent him up to cloud nine. He was unfortunately yanked back down to Eorzea by the booming voice. “Congratulations, you both pass the final trial. Your reward awaits you.” G’raha blinked at Kiyosuke for a moment. “It...that’s it?” Kiyosuke shrugged and walked over to the door that had opened with G’raha right behind. They stepped into what almost looked like a vault and in the middle on a pedestal was an orb. It was silvery in appearance and about as big as Kiyosuke’s head. “What do you suppose this is?” G’raha shrugged as he examined it, or more rather tried to see it by standing on the tip of his toes. Kiyosuke looked at G’raha struggling and without thinking picked him up. “Here.” It took him a moment to realize that he had just picked up a fully grown man and was holding him up kinda like a trophy. “I..I’m so sorry.” he quickly put him down and stood there with his arms rigidly at his side. G’raha had gone very red (AGAIN!) in the face and mumbled. “It's okay.” Neither spoke for a moment and an uneasy silence fell. 

Kiyosuke was gonna speak when the orb started glowing and humming. “Uhh.” It grew brighter with the hum growing louder until it was so loud that G’raha was covering his ears and Dragomir was desperately trying to cover what he could of his horns but to no avail. His head swam and everything started to spin as the hum pierced into his mind. The last thing he saw was G’raha looking at him with worry as he fell to the floor. He was floating, or at least it felt like he was. He looked around to see only blackness, where was he? He heard a sound, his head turned towards the direction and what he saw caused his eyes to widen and his face to turn pink. He had G’raha pinned up against a wall, his dick buried all the way inside of the Miqo’te and his tongue was battling G’raha’s. The noise heard was G’raha moaning. “Oh...Kiyo...faster!” He tried to turn away but everywhere he turned it was different scenes of him and G’raha, some of them were sexual, others were dates, he was pretty sure one of them was a wedding. He closed his eyes but still the visions persisted, not that he really wanted to look away. But G’raha loved another and to think of him this way made Kiyosuke feel dirty and wrong. Sure he wanted all of these things to happen….deep down. He tried to run but couldn’t move, he did his best to try and think of other things but every thought was intruded with more visions, until something broke through. “Kiyosuke Candilyte! Please wake up!” 

Kiyosuke opened his eyes to find himself outside of the cave on the ground. He blinked a few times and looked around to find a relieved looking G’raha looking at him. He had clearly been crying, if his puffy eyes were any indication. It was then he realized his head was in G’raha’s lap. “How long was I out?” G’raha chuckled and wiped away a few tears. “About an hour. How are you feeling?” Kiyosuke started to sit up but G’raha held him down. “Easy now, you took a hard fall...twice. The orb ported us outside about 6 feet in the air and unfortunately you smacked into this ground too.” Kiyosuke chuckled. “I’m alright, a bit of a headache but I feel that had more to do with that humm than hitting the ground.” He stared up at G’raha and wanted nothing more than to pull him into a kiss but he had to remind himself that he loved someone and therefore wasn’t available. “Should we head back?” G’raha’s ears twitched. “Oh? Already?” He sounded a little disappointed, unless Kiyosuke was hearing things. “Well, I feel like this is a significant discovery our fellow Scions will want to know about.” G’raha nodded. “You’re right.” Kiyosuke leaned up and with a little help stood up. “Too bad we don’t have anything to bring back with us.” G’raha’s tail swished a few times. “About that.” he pulled out the orb from his bag. “It came with us, and I can feel a magic in it but can’t access it.” Kiyosuke smiled. “Excellent, I’ll give it to Y’shtola and Uriange to ponder over.” 

An hour later Kiyosuke and G’raha walked into the Scion headquarters with the orb in hand. Kiyosuke walked over to the table where most of his friends were gathered and set it down. They all stared at it for a moment before Alisaie spoke up. “This is…?” Kiyosuke spent the next three hours regaling everyone with the story of the cave, G’raha chiming in at times but he seemed less energetic than usual. The only one who seemed to notice was Y’shtola who was looking between the two with curiosity. Alisaie of course was miffed on having missed out from exploring ancient ruins and fighting hordes of enemies. Even Uriange lamented that he too would have liked to have seen them. “Well it's not like I knew until we got teleported in. How was I supposed to know?” Kiyosuke threw his hands up in the air in exasperation as he said this. Everyone chuckled at this and they all leaned back in their chairs. The conversation moved to idle chit chat after that. They all ate dinner together and carried on various conversations amongst each other. Oddly enough Kiyosuke and G’raha seemed to be avoiding each other and after G’raha excused himself to bed for the evening Y’shtola moved to sit next to Kiyosuke. Once they were the only two left she turned to him with a look an older sister might give her younger brother before scolding him.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Kiyosuke was staring at Y’shtola bracing himself for whatever was about to come his way. “There’s more to the story, and it involves you and G’raha...something uncomfortable that’s made you two more distant.” Kiyosuke blinked several times and hung his head. “I guess you could say that.” He then explained the parts of the story he had glossed over earlier in more detail. When he was done Y’shtola was giving him an incredulous look before flicking him on the forehead. “For all your strength you really are dense aren’t you?” “Excuse me?” Kiyosuke took offense to that, he tried very hard to be open minded thank you very much. “You can’t even see that G’raha is head over heels for you. Then again he’s oblivious to your feelings for him...so you’re both hopeless.” Kiyosuke opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out. He closed it and then opened it again this time forming words. “H..he what? How do you know I like him?” Y’shtola chuckled. “Oh my dear Kiyosuke, it's written all over your face whenever you look at him, but don’t worry only Alisaie and I have figured it out. And don’t ask as to how we can see it. That’s a woman's secret.” She winked at Kiyosuke who was pink in the face and looking away. “My advice to you would be to go to him and let what should happen...happen.” She took a sip of her tea and said nothing more.

Several minutes later Kiyosuke found himself standing outside of G’raha’s apartment door. He was staying in the Goblet apartment complex, it was a room that Alphinaud was currently paying for until G’raha could afford it himself. He bit his lip and wondered what to do. Should he knock? Or maybe come back later when it's not so late. He started pacing outside the door contemplating what to do when the door swung open. 

“Whoever is pacing out here would you please sto-” G’raha came face to face with Kiyosuke. “Oh! Is everything alright? What’s wrong?” He noticed Kiyosuke’s disheveled appearance and his ruffled hair. Kiyosuke looked at G’raha who was wearing some kind of pajama, he blinked a few times when he realized it had his face plastered all over. He snorted and started laughing at this. G’raha looked really confused until he looked down at what he was wearing and went bright red. “I...I can explain! I really can!” He didn’t get much of a chance however as his jaw was gently grabbed by Kiyosuke who held his face up to look at him. “No need.” His voice was low but still had a hint of the chuckle in it. G’raha froze, Kiyosuke’s hand was on his face holding his jaw while his thumb gently stroked his cheek. His heart was pounding in his chest as their faces got closer. “Kiyo…” Kiyosuke stopped and looked him in the eyes the smoldering intensity back in full force. “G’raha Tia, It was you who I was talking about, the person I said I love.” G’raha felt like he had just been hit with a thunder spell, his tail and ears were standing straight up and his eyes were locked with golden ones. “Kiyosuke…please.” Was all he could say. Kiyosuke inched closer and when G’raha didn’t protest he locked his lips with the Miqo’te.


End file.
